Soap Opera Diplomacy as an Element of Soft Power: Comparison of Soap Operas "The Magnificent Century" and "Jewel in the Palace"

Abstract

With soft power, which is one of the methods they use in their foreign policies, states can be effective on other societies and therefore other states by activating their cultural and historical elements through various instruments. In this context, cultural diplomacy, as an element of soft power, has emerged as a method of highlighting cultural elements, especially through mass media, and with the proliferation of new social media channels that provide content to the audience over the internet in the 2000s, soap operas have come to the fore as a cultural diplomacy tool. The production of soap operas involving states and the soft power benefits of this process have shown that there is a gap in the literature on this subject. This article aims to compare the methods and capacities of Türkiye’s soap opera diplomacy through Qatar, a country with which Türkiye has a cultural affinity, and similarly, South Korea's process through China, a country with which South Korea has a cultural affinity.